Manish Arora’s Paris Fashion Week showcase was everything you’d expect it to be

Call it Super Thursday! Any one of the standout shows from today’s catwalks could have commandeered the news cycle on their own, but the fact that they all showed today made for an exhilarating 12 hours. Here are a few of the highlights, from the switcheroo heard around the world at Balmain to Chloé’s romantic motorcycle riders.

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Girl on a motorcycle at Chloé

Chloé’s show notes cited not one, but two, famous girls on motorcycles: Anne-France Dautheville, a French journalist who travelled solo to Afghanistan in the 1960s, and Marianne Faithfull, the Rolling Stones muse who starred in the iconic film of the same name in 1968. This being Chloé, the tough leather jackets and capes were tempered with soft edges, flouncy blouses and maxi dresses.

Image: InDigital

Girl on a motorcycle at Chloé

Image: InDigital

Wild west visions at Manish Arora

“Twin Peaks meets Haribo [gummy candy]” is how Manish Arora summarised his America-inspired autumn/winter collection, which he showcased on a cast of non-professional models, including photographer Ellen von Unwerth. Arora’s madcap outfits had a distinct stamp of the Wild West, as evidenced by the suede, denim, leather, and highly embellished cowboy boots. And of course, laced through it all, was that kooky, fantastic Manish Arora quality—think photorealistic neoprene prints and shocks of fuchsia pink and neon orange.

Image: InDigital

Wild west visions at Manish Arora

Image: InDigital

Pantone pastels at Balmain

Just when you think Olivier Rousteing’s sense for social media spectacle can’t be topped, he opened his show with a gambit that immediately commanded international headlines: Gigi Hadid and Kendall Jenner “swapped” hair colours via carefully chosen wigs. As far as the clothes are concerned, this collection was rather restrained by Balmain standards, with wasp-waisted dresses, lace pants, and chic toppers in this year’s Pantone colours, rose quartz and serenity (light pink and pale blue, for the rest of us). Balmain is nothing if not au courant.

Image: InDigital

Pantone pastels at Balmain

Image: InDigital

Apocalyptic awareness at Rick Owens

Owens dubbed his collection Mastodon after the prehistoric beast, alluding to the inevitable extinction of our own species. His clothes reflected that elemental spirit: capacious pants, long dresses, capes. The collection was more grounded than his usual black-on-black modern armour, perhaps because of the colours involved—crème de menthe, slate grey and burnt amber were particularly affecting.

Image: InDigital

Apocalyptic awareness at Rick Owens

Image: InDigital

Punk schoolkids at Vetements

There were at least a dozen separates off the Vetements runway bound to sell out the minute they hit stores. Demna Gvasalia, head of the design collective, has an uncanny sense of the wearable and sellable, which is why his boundary-pushing clothes never seem overly academic. We loved the menswear slacks, schoolboy blazers, velvet coats, and of course, the slogan-ridden sweatshirts.